How Malak Lost His Jaw
by flooj9235
Summary: My take on the common question. Also, a hint of femslash at the end! Oneshot. This is set before the war!


Hello again! If you read my other story, Reaction, then maybe you read the AN and saw what I said about unanswered questions and answering them, and here's another little ficlet I wrote to answer a question. How did Malak lose his jaw, anyway?

While my favorite idea is that Revan got annoyed and wanted to shut Malak up, so she cut his jaw off, I didn't do that with this fic. I like the way this one went, though it could have been fleshed out a little more.

Anyway, I've blabbed on for long enough. Enjoy the reading!

* * *

"Dammit, Alek!" Revan yelled, lunging over and aiding her tall friend in his battle against a particularly burly looking Mandalorian. "I swear, you are the WORST lightsaber duelist I have ever met!"

Alek growled as he used the Force to pull his lightsaber back into his hand. "Well, not everyone can be Miss Perfect-Student!"

Revan snorted, blocking an attack aimed at her legs as Alek returned to fighting. "Oh, please!" She ducked as blaster bolts flew toward her, blocking a few strays with her lightsaber. "We both know that's Bastila, all the way!"

Alek forced out a laugh, and the duo went back to fighting their opponents. They had been sent on a diplomatic mission to Onderon, and had somehow managed to crash land on Dxun instead. By the time the two Jedi had climbed out of their ship, Mandalorians had swarmed toward them, presumably to collect spare parts from the ship.

"Revan!" Alek cried, leaping over to protect his friend as a Mandalorian nearly severed one of her legs.

Revan shot Alek a grateful smile, fending off more of the Mandalorians. Thanks to Revan's skilled hand with her lightsaber, the Jedi duo was making progress against the Mandalorians. Where there had been twenty Mandalorians, there were now only three.

Having seen that Alek was not nearly as adept as Revan, two of the Mandalorians began fiercely attacking him, while the third took on Revan.

Just before Revan struck the fatal blow, her Mandalorian opponent's vibroblade arced down, slicing into her left cheek and cutting a gash into her shoulder. As Revan gasped in pain, the now-lifeless Mandalorian fell to the ground amongst his other formerly living comrades.

Revan glanced over at Alek just in time to see his two opponents scissor their blades and sever Alek's lower jaw. The sight of Alek's jaw dropping to the ground and the sudden gushing of blood down Alek's front made Revan's stomach twist violently.

"Alek!" she cried, lunging for the two Mandalorians as they started to hack away at Alek's body armor.

Alek collapsed to the ground, clutching at the place where his jaw used to be.

As Revan leapt toward the two Mandalorians, she managed to sever one of their heads. The attack startled the remaining Mandalorian, and he stopped attacking Alek, turning to defend himself against Revan's attacks.

Revan was, of course, the better duelist, and she cut the Mandalorian down within seconds. The minute the Mandalorian hit the ground, Revan dropped to her knees at Alek's side. "Oh, Force, Alek! Stay with me, here! We'll get back up to Onderon real quick, and they'll get you patched up, I swear! Force, I'm sorry!"

Alek waved away Revan's apology, blinking back the tears of agony in his eyes.

Revan forced her nausea away, trying to not see the gory, bleeding wound that had destroyed her friend's face. She used her meager Force healing abilities to stem the blood flow, lending some of her energy to Alek so he would be strong enough for the trip.

She helped lift him to his feet, Alek's huge frame weighing heavily on Revan. They staggered back to the ship, and after Alek was seated in the passenger seat, Revan quickly diverted all the emergency power to their ship's backup engine. Within minutes, they were breaking through Dxun's atmosphere and shooting off toward Onderon.

Once they were en route, Revan sank back in her seat, exhausted from giving her energy to Alek and their fight. She glanced over at Alek, a little worried that his eyes were closed. After checking him with her Force senses, she realized he was just meditating to block out some of the pain.

A small sigh of relief escaped her lips before she rested her head against the headrest and closed her eyes.

* * *

"Excuse me, are you Revan?"

Revan jumped awake at the gentle shaking of her shoulder, blinking a few times as she got her bearings. She looked up at the nurse that had asked her the question, nodding at him. "Yeah. How's Alek?"

The nurse smiled, gesturing that she follow him. Revan immediately jumped to her feet, following the nurse through what felt like a complicated mess of hallways until they reached Alek's room.

"He's going to be waking up soon," the nurse told Revan. "We had some of our best droids working on him, and he should be able to leave by tomorrow."

Revan nearly melted with relief. "Thanks," she said sincerely, giving the nurse a grateful smile before walking through Alek's door.

Revan stifled a gasp at the sight of Alek. He was a little paler than normal, and where his jaw had once been, there was a metal casing going all the way around his head. Revan tried to make light of the creepy sight by joking to herself that if Alek was a Sith lord, he'd fit right in.

Sure enough, it was only a few minutes later that Alek's eyelids opened. He looked around worriedly, looking relieved when his eyes came to rest on Revan.

"Hey, Tiny," Revan teased, grinning down at him. "The nurse said you should be okay and we can leave tomorrow. While you were in surgery, I sent a message to the diplomatic big cheeses we were supposed to meet with. The Council's going to send someone else; they said we can come home."

Alek nodded his agreement, wincing at the motion.

Revan sank into a seat at Alek's bedside, unable to hide her grin. Alek was okay, and that was what had mattered most. "I guess you'll be sore for a little while," she mused, studying the metal casing on his head. "But I think you'll be okay. The nurse told me they'd be implanting a bionic voice thing while you were in surgery, so you should be able to relearn how to talk."

Alek waggled his eyebrows, unable to do much of anything else. He studied her for a moment, then frowned, pointing to Revan's face and shoulder.

Revan laughed sheepishly. "I forgot to duck." She'd had her shoulder healed up and the cut on her face had been given a kolto treatment. She'd gotten a look at herself in a mirror a while afterward, and had seen the beginnings of a scar where the cut had been. "Don't worry, I'm okay."

Alek seemed to accept the answer, looking tired again.

"You know," Revan commented, studying her friend's new face. "With that new metal jaw, you almost look like a machine. Maybe I should start calling you Malak-short for Machine Alek. Whaddya think?"

'Malak' rested back against his pillow, winking at Revan.

Revan smiled and rested a hand on his arm. "Go ahead and sleep. I'll see you when you wake up."

Alek closed his eyes obediently, falling asleep moments later.

Revan settled back in her chair, thanking the Force that they'd both managed to survive. Before she knew it, she'd fallen asleep, too.

* * *

The two arrived back on Dantooine two days later, a day earlier than their original return. When Revan had requested docking permission, the Council had sent her a message requesting that she and Alek meet with them as soon as possible.

Revan helped a still-weak Alek out of their ship, helping him regain his balance as he set foot on the ground. Once Alek was steady, they headed for the council chamber.

The Council asked for details of their crash landing on Dxun, then wished them well, dismissing the two young Jedi. Revan walked Alek to his room before heading to her own wearily. She was looking forward to a good night's sleep, having only dozed a few times on their trip back to Dantooine.

She had just stepped up to her door and was entering her security code when she heard a stunned cry.

"Revan?" Bastila called.

Revan turned and grinned, waving at her friend. "Hey, Bas."

"You aren't supposed to be back until tomorrow!" Bastila informed Revan, rushing over to greet her.

Revan opened her arms for a hug, smiling when the shorter girl wrapped her arms around Revan warmly. "Well, surprise, surprise. Alek and I made it back early. Something, uh, came up."

Bastila released the taller girl, arching an eyebrow at her. "Something c-" She stopped mid sentence, her eyes going wide at the scar running down Revan's cheek. "Oh my goodness! Revan! What happened?"

Revan hushed the younger girl, motioning for Bastila to follow her into her room. She opened the door, allowing Bastila to enter before her.

Once the door was shut behind them, Revan kicked her boots off, sending them flying against the wall. She eased herself onto her bed, trying and failing to shrug out of her robe. She flopped onto her stomach and cuddled against her pillow.

Bastila stood watching Revan, stepping over and helping Revan take the robe off. "What happened?" she asked again, sitting on the edge of Revan's bed and resting a hand on Revan's back.

Revan sighed, opening the eye nearest Bastila and peering at her friend. "Can we talk about this in the morning? I'm really, really tired. I haven't slept well since Alek and I left the hospital."

Bastila pursed her lips, then sighed. "Fine, I suppose this can wait until tomorrow. But you know I'm going to worry about you until you tell me."

Revan groaned, rolling over and throwing an arm over her eyes to block out the light. "For Force's sake, Bas," she muttered. "I swear, you're pitiful. Don't I look fine? Alek and I are okay. We've been better, but we're okay."

Bastila opened her mouth to retort, thinking better of it and sighing. "All right, I'm sorry. We'll talk in the morning." She was quiet for just a moment, then patted Revan's arm. "Sleep well," she whispered, leaning over and kissing Revan's forehead gently.

Bastila got to her feet, turning the lights off as she quietly exited Revan's room.

Revan propped herself up on her elbow after the door had shut, plunging the room into darkness. Her heart was pounding like crazy and she was suddenly wide awake.

With a groan, she lay back down, gently touching the spot where Bastila had kissed her. "Dammit," she muttered, curling up on her side. She didn't fall asleep for a long time, her mind filled with fantasies of the day that she would reveal her feelings to Bastila.

* * *

I just wanted to say thanks to all my readers! I know you may not review, but I do pay attention to my traffic! I know you're out there, lurking and reading.

:) Thank you for reading!

Have a great day!


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